More

Free Movie Weekend: Enter The Matrix

From brand-new inductees to the National Film Registry to high-minded European documentaries to certified schlock, the Washington region is getting right back into the new year with a wide range of free movies coming soon to a theater, museum… or bar… near you.

Here’s the list of free flicks on tap for the week starting Saturday, January 5th:

Saturday:

1pm: Fragments of Kubelka (2012). Don’t let the name fool you. This is a four-hour documentary about the life of Austrian avant-garde filmmaker Peter Kubelka. Part of the series Sixpack: The Austrian Experiment at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Concourse auditorium, 4th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

7:30pm: The Matrix (1999). Inducted into the National Film Registry in 2012, starring Keanu Reeves as Neo, a computer hacker who discovers his world is not close to what it seems. Part of a month of National Film Registry screenings at the Library of Congress Packard Campus theater, 19053 Mount Pony Rd., Culpeper, Va.

Sunday:

2pm: Way of Passion (2011). A documentary about preparations for a Passion play and procession in Sicily. Part of the series Sixpack: The Austrian Experiment at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Concourse auditorium, 4th St. and Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

4pm: Tlatelolco (2011). A documentary chronicling centuries of tragedy in one ancient Mexican town. Also part of the Sixpack series.

7:30pm: Sons of the Desert (1933). Considered to be Laurel & Hardy’s full-length masterpiece, Stan and Ollie trick their wives into thinking they’re going on a medicinal cruise, only to have the truth come out the hard way. Followed immediately by The Kidnappers Foil, a series directed by Melton Barker, who traveled the country for decades filming local kids acting out short scenes for two reel films. Both films were inducted into the National Film Registry in 2012. They’re screening for free at the Library of Congress Packard Campus, 19053 Mount Pony Rd., Culpeper, Va.

Friday:

7:30pm: Dirty Harry (1971). The film that started it all, with Clint Eastwood as the iconic San Francisco detective armed with a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world. Inducted into the National Film Registry in 2012 and playing at the Library of Congress Packard Campus, 19053 Mount Pony Rd., Culpeper, Va.